A newly formed nonprofit issues-advocacy group will jump into New Hampshire State House politics Tuesday with a television ad urging Gov. Chris Sununu to veto two Republican-backed voting reform bills.

Secure Democracy -- a self-described "voting advocacy" group -- said it will begin airing the 30-second ad on cable news networks Fox News, CNN and MSNBC beginning Tuesday morning and continuing at least through March 15.

“We commend Gov. Sununu for standing up for the state constitution, and we urge him to veto these bills, no matter what form they take, and not go against his own words,” Weaver said in a statement provided to WMUR.

House Bills 372 and 1264 are aimed at tightening the state’s voting eligibility by ensuring that a person must be a resident of New Hampshire in order to vote in the state. The bills would essentially accomplish that change by aligning the definitions of the terms “resident,” “inhabitant” and “domicile.”

HB 1264 is scheduled to be voted on by the full House this week as part of a crowded House calendar. HB 372 is awaiting action by the House to either concur or non-concur with an amendment passed by the state Senate in November.

The ad focuses on Sununu’s appearance in a December video made public by a local voting rights group, America Votes-New Hampshire, in which he strongly opposes HB 372.

“I hate it. I’m not a fan,” he says in the video, taped at an event in Manchester. He says he hopes the Legislature kills it.

And in new, never-before-seen additional footage of that discussion with a young activist, Sununu says, “It could result in a suppression of the vote. It would never survive in a court.”

“Gov. Sununu is right,” a narrator says in the ad. “HB 372 is a bad idea.”

A phone number appears that connects callers to Secure Democracy, which then connects the callers to the governor’s office.

Sununu, since the December video appeared, has said he might be amenable to the bills if changes are made to eliminate the potential of “unintended consequences.”

But, he told reporters in December, “If it comes to a bill that is clearly suppressing a vote or a specific constituency in terms of voting, then that’s obviously nothing that I’m going to be able to support.”

Democrats, voting rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire strongly oppose the bills, calling then avenues to an illegal “poll tax” and nothing more than Republican attempts to suppress the vote of young people who may be more likely to vote Democratic. Other groups have launched digital ads opposing the bill, but Secure Democracy is the first group to launch a television ad.

Supporters disagree.

In recommending House passage of HB 1264, House Election Law Committee Chair Barbara Griffin, R-Goffstown, wrote that current law “effectively creates two classes of voters.” She wrote that the state constitution mandates that all “inhabitants” have an equal right to vote.

“The majority of the committee believes it is important to ensure that ‘equal’ right to vote by aligning the definitions of domicile, resident, and inhabitant,” Griffin wrote.

But Secure Democracy said the bills will make it harder for college students, military personnel and others to vote.

“The governor’s words matter,” Weaver said. “This ad is part of a campaign to make sure that the governor hears that his constituents support his opposition to HB 372/HB 1264 and he should stand by his word. Gov. Sununu is right when he says these bills would ‘never survive in a court.’”

Weaver, a New Hampshire native, said Secure Democracy was formed as a 501-c-4 group in late 2017 by a group of activists from the Granite State and other states. He said the group will be involved in voting issues in other states going forward, but is beginning its efforts in New Hampshire.

He called it a “bipartisan group interested in secure and fair elections.”